


Skin Deep

by ddagent



Series: The Princess and the Spinner Volumes [1]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M, Role Reversal, Romance, Tragedy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-06-17
Updated: 2013-02-12
Packaged: 2017-11-07 23:44:07
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 17,944
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/436743
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ddagent/pseuds/ddagent
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dark One Belle LeFay makes a deal with spinner Rumpelstiltskin that changes both of them.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I do not own Once Upon a Time or any of its characters, or its settings - all belongs to the lovely folks at ABC.
> 
> It’s my reverse Skin Deep AU! Thank you to everyone’s interest in this, I’m so glad you want to read it. Hopefully part two will be up soon, I do have a lot of work on but I’m trying! :D Enjoy!

_He could see Bae's body._

_Rumpelstiltskin ran across the battlefield as fast as he could, which considering his bum leg was not a fast feat. He wasn't the only parent rushing to collect the bodies of their children - others he knew from the same village and from others across the river were coming to bring their children home. The Duke would have them burned, but Rumpelstiltskin couldn't allow that for his son. He couldn't allow him to be burned like rotten meat._

_"Bae," he whispered as he finally reached his son. Blood was trickling out of the corner of his mouth and his tunic was soaked. Rumpelstiltskin held his son in his arms, trying to shake him back to life. But it was no use._

_He looked around the scorched battlefield and cursed. The village had had a healer come through the week before, speaking of the legend of the Dark One and how he could grant them all their hopes, wishes, desires - all for something simple in return. They'd done the ritual, but he hadn't come. And now Bae was dead._

_"Curse you, Dark One. Curse you."_

_He heard a snort, and looked up to see a young woman looking over the battlefield. She was of reasonable stature, wearing a rich cloak of green and a dress of blood red. Her brown curls caressed her shoulders, but her skin was as pale as the snow during winter. She had no place being on a battlefield. But, then, neither did his Bae._

_She turned to him and Rumpelstiltskin felt something crawl over his skin. "You called?"_

_It couldn't be...her? "You're...you're the Dark One?"_

_The Dark One smiled. "Haven't you heard? Most evil comes in the guise of a beautiful woman."_

_Rumpelstiltskin couldn't comprehend what was going on. The Dark One, the most feared creature in all of the Enchanted Forest, was a woman and she was bloody late. Too late. "Well we want nothing more to do with you! You're late...everyone is dead." He turned back to his boy. His Bae._

_"Always the same, every century. A little man with a desire to prove himself goes to war with the ogres." He looked up at her, and saw pain snarled all over her face. "And everyone dies."_

_Rumpelstiltskin looked down at his son. They said that the Dark One had unspeakable power, that he-she could do anything. He opened his mouth but found that she was already by his side, looking down at Bae with something he didn't expect to see. Compassion._

_"I can't bring him back. No magic in the world can bring back the dead."_

_He nodded. It made sense. Otherwise they would be overrun with the walking dead like the stories that used to scare Bae at night. The ogres used to scare him as a boy, made him weak when it came to actually fighting them. He was a coward, he had done nothing and the battles kept happening. What were they on, the third Ogre War? Fourth? Even this one still wasn't over; more children's blood would be spilled by the end. More like Bae. No parent should ever have to lose their child._

_"Could you...could you end this?" Rumpelstiltskin found himself asking. "Could you protect all the children?"_

_The Dark One placed a hand on Bae's forehead, closing his eyes. "I could. For a price."_

_"_ Anything _." Rumpelstiltskin found himself calling out."Please, protect them. Because no one else will. End this war and I will do whatever you ask of me. I've got nothing left to lose; you could take my soul if you wanted to."_

_The woman's eyes gleamed and she stood back from him and Bae, brushing her dress down. She was truly beautiful, but there was a darkness there that he could see. He watched her tongue trace her upper lip as if thinking a deal over._

_"I have a castle not far from these lands. The house needs tending, the grounds need keeping. If you were to work for me, then I will do what you ask."_

_Some gardening, dusting...he could do that. Hell, he'd build a castle from scratch just so he would feel like he hadn't failed his Bae. They should have run, but he had been so weak. So cowardly. His son was no coward, and now he was dead._

_"Deal," Rumpelstiltskin whispered, holding his son close once more. He would save the other children from this war._

_The Dark One smiled sadly. "Go. Bury your son. I will be back for you in three days when my end of our deal is complete."_

_Rumpelstiltskin nodded. It wasn't like he had anything to stay in the village for. The only thing he had was gone. Just as she turned away, he called out to her. "What do I call you? Or..." He bowed his head; no doubt he would be punished for such insolence. But he wanted to know. "Is the Dark One your title?"_

_Her eyes looked so sad, so dead. "My name, Rumpelstiltskin, is Belle. Belle LeFay."_

_He didn't ask how she knew his as she disappeared into the wind. He just held his son tight in his arms._

X

 

Jeremy Horder was getting his sports equipment out of his van. He ran a small sporting goods store just outside of the main town that had run into a bit of bad business over the cold winter. Still didn't change the fact that he was a week late on his loan, and that she could take what was rightfully hers.

 

"Mister Horder, I've been looking for you."

 

He looked up sharply, nearly banging his head on the bag of footballs he was carrying. He looked scared at the sight of her, and he should be. She wasn't someone to be messed with.

 

"Ms French...I'll have your money next week. The High School owes me a payment."

 

Belle waited patiently, digging her hands into her expensive jeans. She had decided to go a little casual today, it nearly being Valentine's Day and all. Her shoes were smart, good sized heel. Her blouse was cut across by a burgundy vest and a charcoal coat kept her warm. Which was a good thing as more and more people were defaulting on their loan and deciding to hide from her. She hadn't broken too many people's legs. She preferred Jefferson to snip off their fingers.

  
"The terms of the loan, Mister Horder, were fairly specific." She grinned and turned to Jefferson who was adjusting the scarf on his neck. "Weren't they, Mister Madison?"

 

He grinned at his boss. "I would say they weren't just specific, Ms French, they were _fair._ "

 

Belle smiled at Jefferson before turning back to Mister Horder. "Well, if you don't have my money, then we'll have to take something else. Your van, for instance."

 

Horder rested a hand on the bonnet. "You can't! I have a shit ton of stock in this van!"

 

She couldn't really summon the energy to care. Turning to Jefferson, he knew what was coming. "Take the van, please Mister Madison. I need to return to my shop."

 

Jefferson did a brief little bow before spinning his customary bowler hat onto his head. Horder began to argue with him, but no one would take on Jefferson for very long. They found him creepy, sociopathic. That was one of the reasons why she kept him on. Without her magic, she was just all words. With Jefferson, she had a... _presence_.

 

Walking across the street, Belle could see Regina coming her way. The Mayor looked like she was walking with a purpose, and Belle could only imagine what that was. Perhaps something to do with the little blonde Sheriff who was stirring up trouble? Belle was enjoying that part of Storybrooke. She was growing tired of being without magic.

 

"Quite a little show you put on there, Ms French," Regina smiled. 

 

Belle shrugged her shoulders. "Valentine's Day is only enjoyable if you have someone to spend it with." She watched Regina's jaw lock. She had killed her last pet. "For everyone else it's just another bad day."

 

"I was hoping we could talk about something."

 

Belle watched as Jefferson drove the van off with Horder screaming angrily behind him. Regina's gaze was distracted for a moment. As it should be - she left Jefferson to perish in Wonderland. If it wasn't for the Queen of Hearts wanting a favour from Belle, he would have been stuck in Wonderland instead of watching over her castle while she made deals.

 

"Maybe another time, yes?" Belle pulled her lips into a thin smile. "I have business to attend to." It was Tuesday. Tuesday was an important day.

 

Regina gripped Belle's wrist. The deal writer remembered when a young, scared princess had been looking for an escape, and for revenge. The summer before her marriage to King Leopold, Regina had been her apprentice. But power corrupts, and like Belle's former apprentice Cora, they had turned into something quite disgusting. At least Belle had always tried to remain a little human.

 

"We're going to talk about this _now_."

 

Belle scraped her nails against Regina's palm, digging into her hand. The Mayor cursed at the blood drawn, while Belle smirked. "Darling, if I want to talk to you, I'll talk to you. But I don't, so until I do, why don't you go back to trying to be the best Mayor you can be!" She stood up and pressed her mouth against Regina's ear. " _Please_."

 

With a jerk, Regina moved away from her, leaving her to walk back to her shop. Belle couldn't help the smirk over her mouth. It was Tuesday. Tuesday was an important day. Tuesday was new book day.

 

X

 

Belle French, former Belle LeFay of the Front Lands, always loved Tuesdays. Tuesday was new book day, and it was the one thing that brought her joy in this world. Apart from her friendship with Jefferson, although sometimes that felt more like something born out of necessity. After all, they were both pining for someone.

 

As Belle parked her mustang, she recalled the deal they had made when he had promised to help her get revenge on Regina. She would reunite him with his Grace. _She would._

 

She walked up to her house, pulling her keys out of her pocket. She could see the box of books by the doorway - her entire house was lined with the things. She had always loved books; it was the one thing she had been determined to keep after her transformation into the Dark One. The fact that she shouldn't be able to see the books only hit her after a moment.

 

Someone had broken in. Again.

 

Pushing open the door gently, Belle looked around. So far no one was leaping out at her, which was a good sign. She wasn't a fan of guns, but she had a knife hidden at her back. Possibly not enough to scare off an attacker. There was a sabre lying next to a pile of books on fruit, and Belle picked it up. She weighed it in her hands and kept it down by her hip in case she needed to do any serious attacking.

 

People got freaked out if you pointed a _sword_ at them.

 

Belle slowly walked around her home, trying to see if anything had been stolen. A few items were missing, and as she turned to her bureau she could see it was wide open. _No, no, no!_

There was a creak of the floorboards, and Belle turned on her heel, pointing the sabre at the intruder. She was faced with Sheriff Swan holding a gun at her head. The Sheriff dropped the gun to her hip, but Belle didn't relinquish her sword. She was too mad.

 

"Afternoon Sheriff. It seems someone's broken in."

 

Emma looked around, possibly not quite realising how Belle could tell. "Your neighbours reported a break in- French, is that a sword?"

 

Belle looked at the sword in her hand and smiled. "I'm a sucker for the classics."

 

The Sheriff just looked at her like she was crazy, which was possibly a fair assessment. Her bureau was where she kept her most important books, and it looked as if some of them had been taken. If they had...there would be repercussions.

 

X __

_She had come for him late on the third day, having given him plenty of time to bury his son. Giving her plenty of time to hold up her end of the bargain. The Ogre Wars were over; the children of the Front Lands were safe once again. In the distance she could hear the cheers and the parties; people would do anything to ignore the dead._

_Belle turned around to see Rumpelstiltskin as they entered the main hall. He only carried a small sack of belongings, not much of anything really. He was tall, quite handsome if he would actually meet her eyes. His hair was tangled down to his shoulders, and his clothes were of poor quality. There was the staff he carried too - Belle had noticed a limp in his gait. Possibly not the most productive of groundskeepers, but there was something in him that Belle liked._

_Possibly the fact that he was just as alone as she was._

_"Big castle," he muttered._

_Belle nodded. "It is. The grounds are quite extensive, bigger than the main house. They actually connect to the forest, like all good castles should." She brushed a lock of hair behind her ear. "The castle is actually magic, so you should be careful."_

_Rumpelstiltskin nodded, meeting her eyes finally. They were a beautiful shade of brown. "I will, thank you milady."_

_That sounded odd to her hears. Belle observed him closely, the first company she had had in over three centuries. True company too - she didn't count Cora or Regina as they had been work. No one had really lived in this castle with the intention to stay since her father had been there. He had lived to see the end of the Ogre War, and thankfully had never seen the darkness growing in his daughter's heart. She thanked the gods every day for that._

_"Is everything alright?"_

_Belle nodded, trying to get herself together. She was the Dark One, one of the most powerful creatures in all of the kingdoms. In all of the worlds. She shouldn't be thrown off by a spinner with an attractive accent. And a good heart._

_That was a rarity in itself._

_"I'm just trying to decide what room to place you in."_

_Rumpelstiltskin bowed his head. "Lady Belle...I've slept on a straw bed all my life. I'll quite happily sleep in the dungeon. No need to go to any trouble."_

_For that, Belle decided to give him the best room in the castle. "Follow me."_

_He tried to keep up, and eventually Belle pushed open one of the doors with a red cross emblazoned on it. He followed her through and ended up on the top floor of the castle. He could see the ocean through one of the windows at the end of the hall._

_"What the..."_

_Belle smiled at the spinner. "The castle is enchanted. Centuries of magic inside the walls." She watched his eyes light up. She remembered when she had thought that way about magic. "All the doors with red crosses on them will take you up and down floors. Just be careful, they sometimes take you to the garden."_

_Rumpelstiltskin nodded. Poor thing, she was really throwing him in at the deep end. As they walked to what would be his room, Belle used her magic to pack up all the belongings in there and shift them to her room just along the corridor. She had been meaning to sort through her father's things a century ago, but had never got around to it. Now, as someone was finally sharing the castle with her, it seemed like a good time. Eventually they reached the door and she opened it with a click of her fingers._

_Which was really just to show off._

_Rumpelstiltskin poked his head around the door and his face lit up. But it immediately came crashing down. He was still grieving his son and she could only imagine how torn he was over his new home. Belle didn't know what she could to do alleviate that loss - she had tried all the potions in the world to get rid of grief but like true love it was hard to contain._

_She watched him put the bag down on the bed and run his hand down the cotton sheets. Belle had to admit that she liked seeing him smile._

_"Thank you," he whispered, turning to her. "Thank you for your kindness."_

_It had been a long time since someone had called her 'kind'. It had been a long time since someone had smiled at her without malice behind it. Belle found it unsettling._

_Shrugging off his sentiments, Belle turned to him. "The library is one floor down and is the large room overlooking the ocean. In one hour, I would like you to serve me tea there...the kitchen is on the ground floor, just off the grand hall."_

_Without a word she swept out of his room and headed to her sanctuary. It had been a mistake to give him a room so precious. But Belle wanted to see it be used again, to see something come of this castle. And she_ certainly _wasn't going to give him Gaston's room. Not after what he had done to her._


	2. Chapter 2

_She loved her sanctuary. She had adored the library when she had been a child, and now it was the room she spent the most time in when she was at home. A former ballroom, her father had transformed it into a library after her mother's death. The walls were sky high with books, and whether it be curled up in one of the alcoves or standing on the crumbling balcony - Belle loved being in there._

_The shuffling of feet alerted her to her new manservant and the prospect of tea. Belle looked up from her current book - a princess who runs away and falls in love with a local weaver - and turned to Rumpelstiltskin. He was still wearing his rags...she was sure she could find something new for him to wear. Something that didn't have his son's blood stained onto the fabric._

_"Tea..." Rumpelstiltskin presented. He put the tray down and started pouring her a cup._

_"Thank you," Belle replied. "While you're here Rumpelstiltskin, you'll prepare all my meals, clean my clothes, try and tend to this crumbling castle." He nodded, taking in all his new duties. "Make sure I have plenty of tea and biscuits while I'm reading in the library and you'll archive all the items of vital important I bring back from town every Tuesday."_

_Rumpelstiltskin nodded, taking a moment to look at the library around him. It was a breathtaking sight. Of course his gaze then turned on her and he blushed. Belle wondered how used to women Rumpelstiltskin was, especially ones like her who wore skin tight bodices cut low on their breasts. Her beauty swindled more people out of deals than her words, but beauty had also been her undoing. There was more than one reason why the mirrors in her castle were covered._

_"What items of vital importance?"_

_Belle grinned, happy for the change in topic. "Virgin's blood, keeps me looking this young."_

_Rumpelstiltskin tripped, not quite realising it was a joke intended to break the ice. Belle's cup of tea went all over her new book, coating the open pages in the brown liquid. The spinner immediately went to his knees to wipe it off, trying desperately to rectify his mistake. He kept crying out apologies, begging for her mercy._

_Belle felt her skin grow colder. She was a witch, not some kind of monster. After he used his own shirt to try to rub the tea away, Belle went down on her knees and reached for his hands. She met his eyes, and found a wonderful shade of brown._

_"I'm sorry, Lady Belle, I am truly sorry. I'm useless...completely useless."_

_She pressed one of her hands above his, and used the other to tilt his chin up to meet her eyes. "It's just a book, Rumpelstiltskin. I have_ thousands _of them in this castle." She smiled at him, dragging her fingers along his chin and back into the air. It had been so long since she had touched someone,_ anyone _. "I doubt you're useless. Just clumsy. I used to be dreadful, pulled down an entire rail of curtains once."_

_He chuckled, and Belle moved her hand away from his. "I'll get my own tea...you go to your room and rest." What was she doing, this was like any other deal. He belonged to her. But he was a grieving father, and Belle knew how it felt to hold someone you loved in your arms and feel their soul leave them. "Get settled in. I like breakfast at daybreak...in here if you please."_

_Rumpelstiltskin gave her a low bow as he left, smiling at her again. He was going to be trouble, Belle could sense that. She was starting to feel like the ice around her heart was cracking and that was something she could not allow. She would never be weak again._

X

 

"Thank you for your concern, Sheriff Swan, but there's really nothing more you can do."

Belle looked at the Sheriff trying to ascertain exactly what had been taken. It was a fair assumption that the burglar had taken some of her books considering that was really all she had. While Emma had been checking out the little alcove overlooking her back garden, Belle had double and triple checked her bureau. It wasn't there. Someone had taken it.

 

"Ms French, this is a robbery, a public menace. Now if you know something..."

 

The former Dark One thought about Emma's words for a moment. She knew lots of things on a vast number of subjects. Emma would have read tales and watched horror stories about the Le Fay, a creature who came disguised as a beautiful woman. She would grant you a wish - mostly knowledge - but would take your soul if you did not pay up. Belle had found one story about her past life in the library where a beautiful young woman came begging for knowledge that would save her life. The Le Fay gave it, and asked in return for the young woman's beauty. The young woman refused to be plain, so the Le Fay took her heart.

 

Belle had never been sure who the hero in that story was.

 

"French?" Emma's voice disturbed her thoughts. "Do you know something? If you do and you don't tell me, and I find Mister Madison roaming around with his scissors so help me I will put you both behind bars."

 

She meant it, too. The Saviour wasn't scared of her. "His name is Jeremy Horder. He owns a sporting goods shop just outside of town and this morning he defaulted on quite a sizeable loan. He and Mister Madison...disagreed over collateral."

 

"And yet it's some of your books that have been stolen and not one of Mister Madison's hats," Emma shot back, making a note on her little detective pad. Slotting that into the pocket of her jacket, Snow White's daughter turned to her and smiled. "I'm on the case."

 

"Good for you, Sheriff Swan," Belle pulled her lips back in an attempt at a smile. "I hope you get there before...well. I hope you do the job to the best of your ability."

 

Emma glared at her. "If you unleash Mister Madison..."

 

Belle grinned at her. "Believe me, Sherriff Swan. This is a case I attempt to take _very_ personally."

 

The Sheriff looked like she was going to say something else, but thankfully she just groaned and left, slamming the stained glass door of Belle's home behind her. Belle peered out of her curtains and watched as the Sherriff got inside her car and drove away. Horder had made the mistake to cross her. Whether some little witch with her own peculiar collection had put him up to it was still to be seen.

 

Sitting on the armchair by the fire, Belle took her phone out of her pocket. She dialled for Jefferson. "I need you to find Jeremy Horder. Follow him; keep a watchful eye on him. Make sure you're not seen by either him or Sherriff Swan." She paused. "Yes, it's about my spinner."

 

X

 

_The summer had come to the Front Lands, and Belle was determined to enjoy it. The sky - for the first time in what felt like years - wasn't burned red with the fires of the battlefield but was a rich blue. There wasn't even a cloud in the sky. It was Wednesday, and Wednesday meant she had a stack of new books to read. She was currently flicking through one on the proper way to grow pumpkin in preparation for the Hallows celebration that would occur before winter came. Rumpelstiltskin was nearby, cleaning some parts of her collection as requested. It was such a lovely day, and he should enjoy it just as much as she. However, Belle found her eyes straying to him more times than what was acceptable._

_He had been with her for three months now. Within one week of his employment he had found an entire new wardrobe waiting for him - she had made good on her promise to provide him with clothes that hadn't been stained with his son's blood. Various shirts and vests coupled with many different trousers and shoes. Belle had been determined that he not want for anything - she wanted him to feel some of the burden leave him._

_Of course, within two weeks of his employment Belle noticed that he wore the loosest, lowliest things she had provided him. She didn't want to change him - she knew all too well that people changed depending on power and riches - she just wanted to make him happy. So two weeks into his employment with her, Belle had taken Rumpelstiltskin aside, laid him down on the fainting couch and took off his trousers. Her fingers had run over the knot of scar tissue that hindered his step, and had used a potion over the course of three days to heal the limb well enough so he could walk._

_The look in his eyes when he had stood in the library without his walking stick made her feel like she was human again. Even if she was far from it. Belle had seen that he had wanted to hug her, to thank her for what she had done for him. But he had kept his hands to his sides. For the best, Belle reassured herself._

_"Why do you read so much?"_

_Her carefully controlled thoughts of the past were shattered by his brogue reaching to her over the garden. She watched him finish polishing the last of the sabres she possessed. Rumpelstiltskin looked especially good today - he had finally got up the courage to wear the leather pants she had put in his wardrobe almost as a joke. Pity the joke was on her. They made every inch of his legs and behind look inviting. The white shirt he wore was clinging to him, showing off the strong muscle he had developed from fulfilling her every request._

Stop it, Belle _._

_"I read for knowledge - it's why people come to me." She licked her lips for a moment, looking at the stack of fiction books that was twice as high as the ones she read for work. "I like to lose myself."_

_Rumpelstiltskin smiled at her over his worktable. "Does it work?"_

_"It used to."_

_Where had that bit of honesty come from? She returned to reading about pumpkins and the best place to plant them. Maybe...maybe she could go to a Hallows ball this year? She could take Rumpelstiltskin - the best ones were thrown a kingdom over and she doubted he had ever attended a proper Hallows celebration. They had used to throw the most amazing ones in her home. Her father would dress up as a skeleton and chase her around the castle when she had been little. Her last Hallows ball, before the...before_ everything, _she had danced with Gaston. She had been dressed as a fairy. He had been dressed as a knight of the Dark Guard._

_It would have been amusing if the memory didn't make her want to vomit._

_It was then that she glanced back up to see Rumpelstiltskin making uneven motions with one of her swords. "Darling, what_ are _you doing?"_

_"Practicing..." he whispered. He had become less scared of her since she had fixed his leg, but there were still moments when she could see that he still feared her. "When I fought in the ogre war, I only had an axe. I've never held a sword."_

_"Well I'm pretty sure there are no ogres in my grounds..." Although Belle knew there was a fairy turned to stone somewhere near her rock garden. "I could teach you, if you like."_

_"Really?" His face split into a grin again. Belle tried to hide her blush. Another time, a different girl. "If you have the time, Lady Belle, I'd love to learn."_

_"No time like the present."_

_She moved off the sun lounger she had been lying on and removed the throw she had been using to keep her shoulders covered. Belle watched as Rumpelstiltskin took her all in. The dress was blue, the corset crisscrossing with white silk. The skirt went down to her ankles, although there was a split down one side. She kicked off her heels, burying her toes in the grass. There was nothing holding the dress up but her own body, and his eyes traced the large expanse of blindingly pale skin._

_"The sword needs to be an extension of your arm," Belle whispered when she reached his side. She took Rumpelstiltskin's hand within her own and made sure his grip was correct before altering his stance. "If you let the blade go, you will die. That's the most important rule. No fancy footwork or throwing the sword up in the air to then catch it." She let herself indulge and reached for his chin again, bringing his eyes to hers. "Understand?"_

_"Don't let go, got it."_

_Belle picked up her own sword and put it out in front of her. "We're just going to do some simple blocking. The trick with sword fighting is to always anticipate where your enemy is going to go."_

_Her manservant frowned. "I've never been very good at that, milady."_

_"You seem to be very good at anticipating when I need my tea," she teased. He was - she only had to think she needed a good cup to soothe the emotions caused by her latest book and he would be there, the liquid the perfect temperature to drink._

_Belle thrust her sabre in front of her and Rumpelstiltskin jumped back. She went for his elbow and he continued to move backwards. He wasn't much of a fighter, this she knew. She had some measure of her manservant, heard the whispers of the coward Rumpelstiltskin aligning himself with the Dark One. The mere fact that he had followed through on her deal suggested more heroism than those who fought her terms. That was greed. A man who paid his debts was an honourable one._

_"Who taught you how to fight?" Rumpelstiltskin asked as he leapt back to avoid another one of her well placed jabs."_

_Belle stopped her assault. "My father."_

_The moment's reflection cost her dearly as Rumpelstiltskin made his first offensive move and cut one of the laces holding her corset together. It had been an accident, but still a killing blow. He immediately looked away from her front, which was showing even more skin than before. She smiled at him, proud of him. Despite his blushing, his nervousness was slowly leaving him every day and he was becoming something truly spectacular._

_"Well done, I concede." Belle raised her hands above her head, Rumpelstiltskin chuckled. "I do think this would be a perfectly good time for lunch."_

_"I agree."_

_Belle placed the sabre down on the work table Rumpelstiltskin had assembled and headed inside. However, her foot caught on an uneven piece of ground and she yelped as she prepared to hit the stones buried in the grass. But she never hit the ground. Belle opened her eyes to find herself in Rumpelstiltskin's arms. Both of his arms were around her back. As their gaze met, one of his arms shifted under her knees so he could carry her. Belle tangled an arm around his neck, clinging on. He beamed at her._

_"Good anticipation," she whispered, her body burning with the feeling of being pressed against him._

_He laughed again, but his eyes never left hers. "I'd never let you fall."_

_This was a moment. A moment that could change what had been building between them, the employment that had turned into a soft friendship that could indeed be something more than that. He was a good man, kind and gentle with her. More so than any man had ever been and much more than she deserved. "_ Thank you _, Rumpelstiltskin."_

_"Yes...yes," he bumbled as he let her back down to the ground, dropping her a little too forcefully. He thought her unimpressed with his actions. Nothing could be further from the truth. "I'll go start lunch."_

_He gave her one last look before turning on his heel and heading back to her castle. She could hear him muttering to himself, although she dared not to listen in on his whisperings. Belle was too concerned with the Dark One writhing under her skin, reminding her of her power and reminding her what had been sacrificed to get it. What she still needed to sacrifice in order to stem the screaming in her ears._

X

 

The Sherriff had seemed excited when she had brought her in, and Belle's heels made their way over to the desk covered by a sheet. Emma ripped the sheet away revealing books upon books that had been stolen from her collection. Belle's hands immediately went to them, checking each volume in turn for tears, stains, marks.

 

"You were right; it was Horder who broke in." Emma sat back with a smile. "Don't know why he stole books instead of your TV set or something...do you even own a television?"

 

"I have books," Belle whispered, moving into the last pile to check through the last few texts. "Where is Mister Horder?"

 

"Closing in on him." Emma grinned. "I'll have him soon, don't you worry."

 

She was proud of herself. She had brought back the collection of books, would later arrest a man for petty theft instead of something serious like murder. Belle just snorted. "I'll save off on popping the champagne until your job is done, thank you Sherriff."

 

"Oh come on!" Emma shot across the desk. "In less than a day I got all your books back!"

 

"One book is missing."

 

Emma rolled her eyes. "Well other than suggesting Amazon..." The Saviour could tell her humour was falling on deaf ears. "I'll get your book back when I arrest Horder."

 

That wasn't soon enough. He could be doing anything to it, could be ripping it to shreds, dropping it out in the forest. She needed to get it back _now._ Digging her nails into her palm, Belle began to walk away from the Sherriff.

 

"Not if I find him first."

 

"HEY!" Belle snapped round at Emma's tone. The Saviour's eyes were burning into hers. "I swear, French, if Horder is missing any of his fingers when I find him then I will put you and Mister Madison behind bars for so long that there will be skeletons in my jail cells."

 

Belle let out a harsh chuckle before turning her gaze to Snow White's daughter. She had spirit, courage. She was a perfect candidate to bring down the curse and bring down Regina. But she wasn't any match for her. She smiled at her, mocking her with her mouth.

 

"Sheriff Swan, if you think that I need Mister Madison to take back what is mine, you have _gravely_ underestimated me. I'd be careful not to make that mistake again."

 

Jefferson had been of help to her, he had been a friend and had acted as her right hand for nearly three decades now. But she had become feared in the Enchanted Forest centuries before he was even _born_. The Dark One was screaming at her to take revenge. It was perhaps time to stop hiding behind the Hatter and let the monster out to play. 


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoy!

_He watched her lie on the fainting couch she was so fond of. He had to agree that he was fond of it too - Rumpelstiltskin liked the way it displayed his mistress. He liked watching her when she thought he wasn't looking. Belle's eyes would be fully fixed upon the page; her fingers caressing the corner of the next one, desperate to continue the story. For someone so feared, the joy in her face when she read filled him with so much happiness. That face - especially when a curl would encroach on her skin - haunted his dreams._

_Rumpelstiltskin placed the tea tray in front of Belle. She turned to him as he started pouring her a cup, beaming. It was then that he noticed what book she was reading - it was the book he had spilled tea all over on his first night in her castle. She bowed her head when she realised he was staring at the book. He handed her a cup of tea without a word and then poured his own. He was feeling brave today._

_When it became apparent he was staying to drink a cup with her, Belle dragged her ankles up the couch and let him sit on the end. He held the tea cup in his hands, tracing the rim with his finger. Belle was grinning at him from the end of the couch, drinking her own cup. Her tongue ran out to catch a couple of drops of tea, and his gaze immediately went to his knees._

_"Why did you want me here?" Rumpelstiltskin found himself asking. It wasn't the question he really wanted answering, that was something completely different, something about the way he caught her staring at him some times. But it was a step in the right direction._

_She smiled at him. "I couldn't find a damn thing."_

_He chuckled and returned to his tea. He enjoyed being brave, enjoyed being frank with his mistress and uncovering her inch by inch. Just like he dreamed about doing on this very couch. "I think you were lonely. It's a big place, lots of rooms here."_

_"I can always find company if I need it," Belle hissed over her cup. That hurt more than it should have done. But it was the truth. She was a beautiful young woman - maybe a little pale, but in some kingdoms that was a sign of being high born. She could go to any tavern, any ball and find some handsome young man to take back to her bed. She didn't need him._

_Their conversation had stilled, and Rumpelstiltskin turned to see his employer gripping the book like a talisman. Sometimes - like with the book - she could be so warm. Other times he wondered where her heart was. He decided to press on, going in a different direction to uncover more of his mistress. Taking another sip of tea, he swallowed and turned to Belle. "I was cleaning the upstairs rooms, and found some clothes, armour. For a young man, I would say. Were you...were you married?"_

_Belle placed the tea cup down on the tray and looked at him, wrapped up in memories that had happened long before he had even been born. She bit her lip, something he noticed she did when he said something that threw her off. When she was nervous. Eventually she answered him._

_"There was a fiancé, once upon a time."_

_Rumpelstiltskin nodded. That was not what he wanted to hear. Anything but that. "Did he pass in the Ogre War?" She had been so compassionate over Bae, had seemed to understand the grief that he felt - still felt over his son. Her anger over the Ogre War seemed understandable now - his imagination painted a picture of a young husband very much in love with his new bride off to fight his war. A young widow turning to darkness in order to avenge her true love._

_"No..." Belle paused, cracking his picture. "I ended our engagement, but he was close to my father so he..." She closed her eyes for a moment, the pain carving her face into shadows. Without thinking, he brought his hand to cover hers. She snatched it away as if his touch burned her. When he saw her eyes, the blue in them was almost over spilling. "Forgive me, Rumpelstiltskin. I'm not fond of remembering."_

_He nodded, understanding that feeling more than most. He took his cup again, taking a large swallow of his tea to try and stem the many questions he had on his tongue. "There is nothing to forgive, milady."_

_"You're too kind to a witch, Rumpelstiltskin," Belle snarled, her fingers continuing to grip the book._

_He shook his head at her. "You're not a witch. You're not a siren or whatever else you want to label yourself." He felt brave for the first time in...he couldn't remember feeling so brave. Rumpelstiltskin smiled at his employer, looking at her with all the feelings he possessed for her. "I thought I hated myself...you hate your beauty so much you've covered up every single mirror in this castle. I'm right, aren't I?" He watched her bow her head again, not wanting to look at him. He mirrored her favourite action and lifted her chin to meet his eyes. "You shouldn't be ashamed of the pretty heart you want to wear on your sleeve."_

_Belle opened her mouth to respond to him, but the bell in the corner of the library rang. Someone was at the door. In all of his time at her castle, there had never been a visitor. The distraction gave his lady the chance to sweep out of the library and leave him alone to curse his forwardness._

X

 

_Her skin was burning as she made her way down the spiral staircase to confront the intruder. Rumpelstiltskin was a good man, with a good heart - Belle was sure of that. But when he touched her...all she could feel was Gaston's breath lingering over her as her cursed dagger lay just out of reach. Not every man was like Gaston, but few were significantly better. Even if Rumpelstiltskin's intentions were honourable, she was rotten._

_Storming down her hallway, the castle awakened to its mistress' displeasure. Boxes and bricks slammed out of her way, cracking the brickwork as she walked through the great hall that still held miniature castles from its days as a war room. The corridor leading to the main door overlooked the ocean, and for a moment Belle hovered at the broken window panes and remembered running up and down the halls, fascinated by the world outside._

_Then the ogres had come and she had tried to be a hero and lost everything in the process._

_She opened the front door with a wave of her hands, spreading the heavy oak wide. Belle expected soldiers, she expected Regina begging for help with a deal. What she did not expect was the old peddler woman standing there with a small cart that had only three wheels._

_"Missy, missy...I'm selling pretty things, pretty things for a woman such as yourself!" the old woman pitched. "See...look!" She presented a large satin sheet full of necklaces and broaches full of colour. But what caught Belle's attention was laid right in the back of her cart._

_"Is that a spinning wheel?"_

X

 

 _She needed to make it up to him. No doubt her spinner was thinking about all sorts of things, thinking he wasn't worth much to her. She kept breaking away from his touch as if_ he _was the problem. So Belle decided to show him that he was valued. Opening the doors to her library, she saw him still sitting on the couch. He smiled when he saw her._

_"Everything alright?"_

_Belle nodded. "Just an old woman selling her wares." She crooked her finger and he moved from the sofa fluidly. Long gone were the harsh movements of a man with the weight of the world resting in his bones and centred in his knee. Now the leather - which he seemed to wear every day much to her delight and eventual dismay - and the white cotton clung to him like a second skin. "A gift. If you'll have it."_

_She held out her hand and awaited his. She dropped her gift into his palm, fingers gently brushing his as she moved away. Rumpelstiltskin looked down and examined her gift - a small spinning wheel encased in gold and hung on a thin piece of leather. He ran his fingers over the gold before slipping the charm over his head. He examined it now round his neck, grinning all the while._

_"It's beautiful, thank you."_

_He bowed low, keeping his eyes on hers as he did so. She curtsied in response, putting her left leg behind her right. It had been so long since she had needed to act proper, but she enjoyed it. And Rumpelstiltskin was happy with his gift, and that was truly all that mattered. She watched as he moved to clear the tea things away._

_"Rumpelstiltskin..."_

_"Mmm?" he replied as he knelt by the fainting couch._

_"Why did you agree to my deal?" Belle asked, the fabric of her dress floating around her ankles as she walked towards him. He had so much potential, could have done so much. Instead he was with her._

_He looked at her, shrugging for a moment. "Bae was my life. When he was taken from me, I had nothing."_

_"You could have started again. Moved to a different village, picked yourself back up," Belle suggested, returning to her place on the fainting couch. Her knees rested underneath her breasts as she watched him._

_"I did. I came here with you."_

_Rumpelstiltskin placed a hand on their book. She couldn't stop reading it, nor could she stop thinking about it as their book. The Princess and the Weaver. A young princess, engaged to a brutish young knight, sent to her aunt's to study how to be a good wife to the future king of the realm. She enjoyed the adventures the young princess had along her journey, but Belle's favourite part was where she was rescued by a lonely weaver and the two fell in love. They even had a happy ending, married after the weaver won a duel against her former betrothed. The pages where the princess first met the weaver were coated in tea._

_"But you could have..."_

_Her spinner made a noise that sounded disgruntled. He was getting brave with her. She found she rather liked it.  "Lady Belle, I had no friends back in my village. No family that would have anything to do with me. I was a good spinner, yes. But that's hardly a money maker. All I had was Baelfire. I'm happy I came with you. I feel like I've become something. If I had stayed..." She could see the fear in his eyes for what he would have become. She knew that fear - she was a walking description of what happened when grief took over a person. "Thank you."_

_She paused for a moment before whispering, "I'm sorry about your son, Rumpelstiltskin. I was half way across the world when your village tried to summon me. A Genie was having issues with an hourglass and I owed_ him _so I couldn't leave._ " _She needed to explain why she hadn't been there, to allay the guilt she felt. She reached out and took his hand. It felt soft in her own, and he clung back. "If I had the power to bring him back, if it was even possible, I would."_

_"I know you would."_

_He clung back to her fingers before breaking apart and returning to the tea tray. Something nagged the back of Belle's brain concerning her spinner and his son. Something low and hard rested in the pit of her stomach that seemed to spike every time Rumpelstiltskin looked at her. Licking her lips, she decided to ask her question. "What happened to Bae's mother?"_

_Rumpelstiltskin's shoulders slumped from his position at the end of the couch. "She left me and Bae." He looked down at his shoes. "We...we met when we kids and we liked each other well enough so we got married. I always wondered whether she really loved me, though."_

_Belle's body reacted before she could stop herself and she reached over to place her hands on his shoulders. He smiled warmly at her. "To me, love is a delicate flame. It has to be nurtured, encouraged." They were so close, pain mirrored in both their faces. "Love needs to be cherished. Once it's gone, it's gone forever. I don't know which insulted my wife more, the fact that I came home from the war a cripple or a coward. Either way, she took her own life rather than be married to me."_

_She loved him. Clinging to his shoulders, wanting to comfort him more than anything in the world, Belle realised that she loved him. She wanted to kiss away every tear that threatened to break, wanted to hold him so close and whisper everything that she loved about him. His kindness, his generosity, his honour. The way he looked at her, the way he spoke to her. And for a moment, when he turned to her, she believed he felt the same._

_His hand moved to rest on her thigh, to draw her closer, but Belle shifted out of her grasp and stood as if to leave. She heard his hand hit the leather of the fainting couch and she squelched the inner revulsion she felt at herself. He wouldn't accept her if he knew everything about her. He would consider her rotten, broken. He had to go. Before he got hurt, before she saw loathing in his eyes too._

_"I think I'll go prepare lunch before you head into town," he whispered, his words full of too much understanding._

_New book day. She had never hated this day more. He caught her gaze as he moved towards the door. She licked her lips and hated herself more every moment. Her spinner was a coward, and she hoped with the right pressure he would leave her._

_"I think you should go into town for me, Rumpelstiltskin. Pick out some books you'll think I'd like."_

_His face portrayed the dread he felt at such a horrible task. She adored books and she would give him no list - what if he got them wrong? The coward in him would flee. The man who would attempt to fight for her would remember her coldness. "What if they're not right?" he whispered and she felt bile rise up in her stomach._

_She didn't answer him, just left the library to go to her room. She would sit there and cry at the monster she had truly become._

X

 

Belle checked the elegant watch that hung off her wrist as she waited in the queue of the pharmacists. The rope and duct tape she was carrying was not exactly what she had had in mind for Valentine's Day. In fact, she had intended to spend the entire evening torturing herself with her copy of The Princess and the Weaver. But that had unfortunately gone missing.

 

The door to the pharmacists banged open and in rushed the Lucas girl. Ruby was about her age (or the age she looked), her penchant for red coming from the cloak her grandmother had begged Belle to bless. It was one of the few times that Belle had used her magic for free - she had wanted the young girl to grow up without the fear of becoming a monster. As such, she had always tried to be easy on Ruby and her family. Not lenient, just making sure Jefferson didn't go round to see them every time they were late with the rent.

 

Belle watched as Ruby - obviously dressed for a night out - looked at the Valentine's cards out on display. She picked one out and took it to the counter, but then went back and looked at another. "Having trouble deciding?"

 

Ruby looked up and blushed. "You have no idea. I'm trying to find something that says what I'm feeling in the hope that he gets where I'm coming from!"

 

Belle nodded. "And where is that?"

 

Ruby deflated against the card stand. "That I care about him, that he's special. That he may not realise it but he's not one of a thousand guys to me. He is _the_ guy." She picked out another card, this one had two wolves snuggling. She put it back in disgust.

 

"I'm sure he knows, Ms Lucas," Belle smiled, handing her items over to the dwarf with the handkerchief. Poor, love struck girl. She was sure that the good Doctor was nursing a drink on the other side of town thinking about her too. "I'm sure he feels the same way."

 

Ruby rolled her eyes. "I'm not sure. He probably sees what every other man sees in this town." Belle raised her eyebrows. "Everyone thinks I'm useless, only good for pouring coffee and for looking down my shirt."   

 

"Love is...love is layered." Belle started, pausing for a moment as she remembered someone long gone. "Love is a mystery to be uncovered. If he loves you, then he doesn't see you as just a pretty face. He wants to uncover the layers you have, Ruby. He sees your heart and wants it next to his."

 

Ruby nodded, slightly confused by the most powerful person in Storybrooke giving her soppy romantic advice. The girl turned back towards the cards. Grabbing her purchases, Belle picked out a card at the bottom of the rack with a cricket declaring his love in a ridiculous pun. "Good luck, Ms Lucas. Remember to enjoy it while it lasts."

 

With her duct tape and rope, Belle left the pharmacists. She had a date with Mister Horder to get to.

 

X

 

Horder was taped and bound in the back of the van they had taken as collateral only that morning. The Sheriff was apparently off searching on the other side of town, meaning that Belle had some time to get the information that she needed. Jefferson stood to the side, holding his bowler hat in his hands. He seemed concerned, but he didn't need to be. She had it under control.

 

"Are you sure you don't need me, Belle?" Jefferson asked. "I could get the information you need in about a minute twenty. Maybe minute thirty."

 

Belle smiled and kissed Jefferson on his cheek. He was a good friend. "I'll be fine, thank you. This is something I have to do alone. You should go watch over Grace, I have a feeling our deal may be concluded a little sooner than either of us had anticipated."

 

Jefferson raised one eyebrow but didn't say anything. He didn't say anything about the spare rope tied into a noose waiting on Belle's passenger seat, nor did he mention anything about the sabre also lying there. She was thankful for that. But he should watch over his daughter - soon Regina would be getting her comeuppance. A comeuppance Belle was very glad about.

 

"Where are you going to take him?" Jefferson asked.

 

Belle's heart broke a little as her tongue pushed the words out of her lips. "A house I own. It's empty - there was a fire there a few years ago. It killed a teenage boy and his father."

 

She started to turn away to get inside the van when she felt Jefferson's hand on her arm. He was concerned for her, worried she was taking it too personally. Regina shouldn't have gone after _him. Again_. "Did they really die in a fire?"

 

"No."

 

She pushed Jefferson's hand away and headed inside the van. She needed to get the book back. She needed to feel close to him. She put the key in the ignition and drove away. In the back, Horder attempted to scream. Belle just smiled. 


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know it's been a ridiculously long time since my last update [May 17th!] but I hope that you enjoy this chapter! :D Chapter Five should be coming very soon.

The lone house was tucked away by the trees, the other residents on the street not wanting to look at the wrecked building. It held too many memories of the father and his son who had died due to a poorly installed smoke alarm. Belle remembered the night that Andrew Gold and his son Ben had burned alive. Of course it was all lies - the boy had died on the battlefield, and the father had been murdered by the man in the back of the van. But when Belle stepped onto the pavement, her heart felt raw.

 

Hidden by the trees, Belle reached into the back of the van and pulled out Jeremy Horder. His hands were tied, his mouth taped. Not that it would matter anyway. Kids played regularly in the old house. The residents on the deserted street had stopped calling the Sheriff after every little noise long ago. From the front seat of the van she grabbed the noose and her sabre. She pointed it over his heart as he lay on the ground, digging it into his flesh.

 

"Walk."

 

Horder stumbled as she pointed him in the direction of the house. She continued to jab him as he walked. The house itself was rotting. It should have been demolished but Belle could never sign the order. It was a death trap, but Belle wasn't afraid of the Fates. They hadn't collected her for over three hundred years now. When they did, she would be glad to go.

 

She hauled Horder inside the house and shut it quickly, making sure no passersby noticed them enter. The former black knight was on his knees, looking over the wreckage of the house. When she moved around to him, his eyes pleaded with her. He saw what they all saw - a woman with a little bit of power, unwilling to do the dirty work. They all suspected that Jefferson was the real danger. They had _no_ idea what she was capable of.

 

Belle turned to Horder with a smile on her face, holding the sabre comfortably in her hand. "Mister Horder, so nice of you to accompany me this evening. I think we have some things to discuss." She reached for the noose. "I'd say 'not to worry, Mister Madison won't be joining us', but believe me, Mister Horder. You _should_ be worried."

 

He started to struggle, to scream. But no one would hear him, and he couldn't escape.  

 

X

 

_Rumpelstiltskin walked through the forest towards the town, his heart growing heavier with every step. His dark cloak weighed on his shoulders, as did his leather breeches and his white shirt. When he had received the clothes and slipped them on for the first time, they had made him feel like a prince. Now...now he was back to his old cowardly self. Running away from the first good thing that had happened to him since Bae was born._

_He continued his way along the dirt road, knowing this was for the best despite what his heart was telling him. He couldn't return to the castle, couldn't return with a stack of books and have them all be wrong. The thought of ruining something so special to her with his ineptitude was something he couldn't allow. He would find a place to settle, a place where he could spin and lose himself. Spin to forget. Forget about Bae, forget about Belle. Forget about the brief moments in time when love had replaced grief in his heart._

 

_The sound of a carriage in the distance disturbed his thoughts and Rumpelstiltskin stepped back off the road, unwilling to be run down or to be drawn into any conversation. He turned when the carriage appeared around the trees. It was black as death and the knights flanking it looked like soldiers of the Fates. He waited for it to pass but instead it stopped in the middle of the road. The carriage door opened to reveal a beautiful woman dressed all in black. She smiled at him._

_"Did my carriage splash you?"_

_Rumpelstiltskin shook his head vehemently. "No milady, it did not." Gods forbid he upset her and became tangled with her soldiers. He still had nightmares about the soldiers who had come to claim Bae, who had beaten him and ridiculed him. He didn't want to repeat history with these men._

_The woman in the carriage just kept smiling, oblivious to his distress. "I'm tired of riding. I think I'll walk with you and stretch my legs. Just for a little while."_

_All he could do was nod as the elegant woman stepped out of the carriage and began to walk beside him. She was beautiful, not as beautiful as Belle perhaps but still more than a man like him could dream of. Rumpelstiltskin had no clue why she was walking with him. Everyone in his life had always sidestepped him. Yet a stunning woman, the most beautiful creature he had ever encountered, tolerated and sometimes even enjoyed his presence. Here was another beautiful woman walking beside him. It seemed unreal._

_As they started their walk, the woman looked him up and down, smiling all the while. It was unnerving. "You carry very little."_

_Just the clothes on his back and a satchel for the books that he wouldn't be picking up for Belle. "My needs are small."_

_"And yet your pace is hurried." He turned his head to the ground. Years of being hindered by his leg meant that the ability to walk at a strong pace was a wonderful option. He was taking it now, to be as far away from the castle he had grown to call his home as he could. "Your master must be a harsh one to have you running from him." She must have seen something in his face as she began laughing. "Mistress? Well now that's interesting."_

_He was fast becoming tired of their conversation, his stomach tied in knots from worrying about his tongue. He needed to stop. "If you'll excuse me, milady, I may take a rest. Please, continue on your journey."_

_But the woman ignored him, instead linking arms with him as they continued down the road. Her touch was cold, unlike Belle's. She was warm to him, like a summer's day. "So you're running away from your mistress...I take it she doesn't feel the same way you do?"_

_Rumpelstiltskin had intended not to answer, but something inside him felt he needed to explain. "No, she doesn't. Sometimes she looks at me like I'm something but..."_

_"But?" the woman coaxed, squeezing his arm._

_His eyes fell to the ground. "Despite the looks and the smiles, when I touch her she flinches. There's a coldness in her soul that's clamped on. It won't let any warmth in."_

_They continued to walk, the woman looking more and more intrigued by his dilemma. "Hmm...sounds like a curse to me. You know, all curses can be broken. Like in the stories - all you need is True Love's Kiss. Of course it probably wouldn't work. You ran away to escape your pain, it's not as if she sent you away so she could escape hers."_

_The woman laughed, but Rumpelstiltskin stopped. "But she did send me away! She sent me to get her books...I was just too scared to return." Rumpelstiltskin bowed his head, feeling more the pitiful fool than ever. He was such a coward. He couldn't even return to the woman he loved!_

_"You shouldn't be. If she feels the same way, then you could be happy. Don't let station stop you from getting what you want." He could see a shadow fall over the woman's face. "True Love has no boundaries."_

_Rumpelstiltskin smiled, hope welling up inside his chest. It all made sense now. She was scared of her feelings, of letting him in. He needed to be brave, for both of them. "So a kiss, that'll break the curse? We could be together then, properly?"_

_The woman smiled at him, baring her teeth. "Together forever."_

_They continued to walk a little way down the road, his smile bursting from his face. He and Belle could be together. She wouldn't have to cover all her mirrors and she wouldn't have to flinch from his touch, thinking that she was ugly. He could love her, love her like she deserved. Maybe they could even start a family, and he could be a father again._

_Lost in his daydreams of sweet little girls and boys, Rumpelstiltskin didn't notice the growing smile on the woman's face._

X

 

_Belle didn't know why she waited. She didn't expect him to return. All her plans had been made for him not to, for him to leave her alone so she could continue on her work. She knew Rumpelstiltskin so very well, knew the cowardice that twisted like thorns around his heart. After her fool's errand he would be long gone from her lands. As much as she had once longed to fall in love, she had a purpose now, a vendetta to carry out. She couldn't put that all aside for her spinner._

_She had changed into her blue autumn dress for something to keep her occupied, one of the few clothes she had kept from her days as a young maiden. The skirt was the lightest blue, the bodice gold and modest. She had removed the pins from her curls and let them spill out onto her shoulders. She dared not look in the mirror to see her appearance; after all she did not know who was watching. But her reflection in the window pane showed more a woman than a witch._

_Years ago, she had stood in that very window and watched as the soldiers went off to fight the Ogres. Then, after the war, she had stood in the shadows and watched the celebrations from afar; her snow white hands clutching the sill, her favourite mirror cracked. Her father hadn't looked upon her differently, had loved her all the same. He had loved her up until the moment he had been taken from her, until the moment Gaston had plunged a knife into his heart._

_So lost in her own grief, Belle almost missed the sight of a lone figure coming up the road to the castle. She didn't get visitors, so the single glimmer drew her attention. She watched, entranced, as the figure opened the cast-iron gate covered in thick roses. She watched as his features became apparent in the growing moonlight._ Rumpelstiltskin! _He had come back! Belle couldn't believe it._ He had come back.

_She raced through the castle and out the door to greet her manservant, not caring about propriety or failed plans. She needed to see him. She ran through the doors to the castle, forcing them open with her hands. She stepped out onto the pathway and met his gaze. His satchel was bursting with books but Belle didn't concern herself with them. She was too busy looking over his tussled brown hair, his warm gaze. He watched her looking over him, his smile so welcoming._

 

_Belle ran to him without thinking and hurled herself against him, her arms wrapped tight around his shoulders. She dug her face into the curve of his neck to breathe him in, to thank the Gods that the man she loved had returned to her. He wouldn't shy away from her, wouldn't consider her broken or damaged. He wasn't like that. He would accept her, curse and all. She knew that now._

_Rumpelstiltskin's arms wrapped around her waist and spun her in a circle, the first time he had held her since that day they had played with the sabres. He had wanted to hold her, touch her, several times and now she wanted nothing more than to feel his hands all over her. Eventually he dropped her to her feet and grinned at her, not quite believing her reaction._

_"What did I do to deserve such a wonderful welcome home, milady?"_

_Belle grinned. "I'm just happy to have you back."_

_She bit her lip as he reached down for her hand, pressing his lips to it. "I'm happy to return."_

_Suddenly she was reaching for his hand and dragging him back into the castle: out of the cold and into their home. "Tea and my books, please! As quick as you can."_

_Belle left him in the foyer and ran up towards the library. She couldn't believe he was home, she couldn't believe he was being so bold with her! But she loved it so. She twirled in her dress in the middle of the library, feeling quite unlike herself. As she sat down on her usual chaise, she realised she felt_ human _. She didn't feel like a witch, she didn't feel like a siren. She felt like a young woman in love with a man who made her feel the most incredible things._

_She beamed as her love joined her in the library, bearing a fresh pot of tea. He laid it out neatly before reaching for his satchel. He got out about eight books and stacked them neatly on the table in front of her. She waited patiently for him to sit beside her before reaching over to look through them. There were two books about matters of the world - what to do with cut roses and the best ways to make jam - and the rest were all story books. She took herself off the chaise and went down on her knees to examine them closer. They were stories about dragons and princesses and demons and witches and they were_ perfect _._

_As she investigated inside the covers, Belle felt Rumpelstiltskin's hand move over her shoulders, catching a curl between his fingers. She looked over at him and watched him twirl it in his hands before he dropped it to her frame. Smiling, Belle patted the space next to her on the floor. There was not an inch of daylight between them as he sat beside her._

_She looked him over, not quite believing that he had come back to her. Belle fiddled with his hair, taming out the tangles with her fingers. She watched his eyes flutter shut and his breathing slow as she touched him. He was so handsome. He was the sort of man she had always hoped to fall in love with when she had been normal. Now she had._

_"They're perfect, Rumpelstiltskin," Belle whispered, smiling at him when he finally opened his eyes. "Absolutely perfect."_ Like you.

_He nodded and bowed his head. "I'm glad, Belle." It was the first time he had used her name without anything attached to it, no measure of status at all. She found herself whimpering from the way he spoke her name. "You know I was worried that I would come back with the wrong ones. I almost didn't come back because I was so afraid."_

_She didn't say anything. The magic crawling under her skin seemed happy that her plan would have worked had Rumpelstiltskin not gathered up the courage to return to her. It didn't matter that they could have been apart. They were together now. "I'm glad you did."_

_"So am I."_

_Belle turned to look back at her books, gazing over the pretty covers. She couldn't wait to begin reading one. She just had to choose which. Before she could, she felt Rumpelstiltskin's hesitant fingertips under her chin. He turned her to look at him, to watch the love that shone through in his eyes. Then he closed them, leaning in to her slightly. She followed suit and placed a hand on the side of his neck, guiding him to her mouth._

_Their lips met, so suddenly and so softly that if it wasn't for the sigh she heard from his mouth she would have almost imagined it. Rumpelstiltskin parted their lips, taking her top one for himself. The gentle touch made her quiver, made her long for more, made her want his mouth on places that no man had touched in decades. But then she felt him press a tiny kiss to her top lip before pulling away. She opened her eyes and smiled at him, her chest heaving. She had never been kissed like that before. Her whole body was tingling._

_"You're blushing," Belle said, laughing quietly._

_One of Rumpelstiltskin's hands reached out and cupped her cheek, tenderly stroking her skin."So are you."_

_It took a single heartbeat for Belle to realise that something was wrong. Rushing to her feet and out of Rumpelstiltskin's touch, she ran to the corner of the library where a single mirror stood, covered from view. She tore the sheet off and, ignoring the cracks in the glass, looked at her reflection. She could see colour blooming under her cheeks, her lips the colour of rouge for the first time in three centuries. She looked at her hands, looked at them becoming pink._

_"I don't understand."_

_Belle watched from her mirror as Rumpelstiltskin stood up, smiling at her. "True Love's Kiss can break any curse."_

_Her moment was over. She watched the colour in her hands fade, watched it drain from her face. The lips that Rumpelstiltskin had kissed only moments before returned to their normal hue. Once more she was a witch. She closed her eyes for a moment before opening them. "How do you know about that?" she asked, her hands starting to shake._

_"She-there was a woman, on the road into town. She told me about how to break..." He bowed his head. He looked upset, as if realising his plan had failed. "Belle, I-"_

_She raised a hand, signalling for him to stop talking. Belle looked back to her mirror, watched it crack and splinter around the edges, creating spider webs in the glass. She hoped that bitch was watching; she hoped she was enjoying every shred of agony Belle felt. "Well this is a new low for you, darling. You've tired of playing with your own toys so you decided to play with mine? You'll pay for your moment of playtime, Regina. Every second will come back on you tenfold!"_

_"Belle, who are you talking to..." Rumpelstiltskin started, one of his hands reaching up to touch her shoulder. She flinched back, tossing him to the ground like a doll. She looked at him, looked at his hurt expression. Why was he looking hurt? He had betrayed_ her. _"Belle, I'm sorry..."_

_"Shut up!" Belle screamed, making a grabbing motion with her hand. Rumpelstiltskin clutched at his throat, unable to speak. He gasped and wheezed, trying to make some noise. She wasn't interested in his pretty words. She used her shoe to lift his eyes to her. How could she have been so blind? She should have seen this coming, should have seen through his deception._

_"I thought you better, Rumpelstiltskin. I thought you were a good man. I should have known. What treasures did the Queen offer you to do her dirty work? Or was it just power that interested you?" She used her boot to push him to the floor like a beached turtle. "Did you really think that you could manipulate me so easily? That you would be the first man to attempt it? Cowards always desire power. I should have seen that in you."_

_Belle turned on her heel, not wanting to look at him any longer. She shouldn't have let herself been so deceived. She should have recognised this when he first looked at her so lovingly and dealt with it then. She had been so_ foolish. _With a wave of her hand he recovered his voice and she heard him gasp and splutter behind her. She heard him suck in a few heavy breathes before he looked up at her._

_"Belle, I love you, I never meant to hurt you. Please believe me!" He reached a hand out, grasping at nothing but air. "Why won't you believe me, Belle?"_

_She turned and looked at him. "Because love is for stories, and I am no princess."_

_With a wave of her hand, she sent Rumpelstiltskin to his room where he would stay until she could figure out what to do with him. Belle stared out onto the sea, her heart crumbling in her chest. For the first time in her life she had been in love, and it had all been a lie._

X

 

While she had been tying the noose around one of the roof beams, Horder had sat on the floor and begged through his gag. He had watched her take one of the few remaining kitchen chairs and place it just underneath the noose. With the tip of the sabre she had made him stand on the chair and she had adjusted the noose around his neck. Then she had ripped the tape off his mouth.

 

"French, I can explain, I can!" Horder choked, his attempts to loosen the noose with his tied hands failing.

 

Belle smiled, giggling as he struggled. He had to be careful not to fall off that chair. She watched him struggle for a while, playing with the sabre in her hands to draw his attention. She balanced it on one finger, before bouncing it in the air and it landing on another. Belle smiled in his direction, but Horder just spat at her feet. Snarling, she reached over and pressed the metal against Horder's cheek, watching as a tear dripped down to meet the steel.

 

"I like to keep my blades sharp, Mister Horder."

 

"You twisted bitch!" Horder hissed, struggling for breath. Belle pressed the metal to just below his ear and flicked, causing a little cut to appear. Slightly larger than your average shaving cut, and twice as painful.

 

Belle brought the sabre down to her side, not yet ready to inflict any more pain. "You have a deal in front of you, Mister Horder, I advise you take it. If you don't, well...we all know how hangings work, don't we? I only want two things from you, Mister Horder. The location of where you stashed my property and the name of the person who asked you to get it."

 

Horder looked at her for a moment, his face contorted in anger. "It was only one week you bitch! That was it!"

 

"That doesn't sound right to me, Mister Horder," Belle hissed, dragging her blade across his cheek. A thin cut appeared, dripping blood down his face. He started to cry out, growling as she made a matching cut on the other side. "Tell me where it is, Mister Horder. _Now._ "

 

She made another cut on the bridge of his nose when he refused to answer her. "It's just a _fucking_ book!"

 

Belle stopped for a moment and looked at him. Looked at his bleeding face, his curled in expression. She took the sabre in her hand and didn't even flinch as she began slashing at his arms, his clothes, his legs. "Just a _book? Nothing is just anything._ " She sucked in a breath before continuing to tear him apart with the blade. "You looked down on him. You abused him, treated him like crap because he was just another _fucking peasant. He was mine, and you hurt him!_ " Horder cried out in pain as the slashes became deeper, thicker with blood. "You hurt him and you took him from me!"

 

_She ripped the books down from the shelf; she tore them down and tossed them aside. Books crashed into furniture, into walls, into tea sets. They became torn under her feet, stained from the tea, crumbled against glass. The shelves her father had built with his own bare hands became splinters, covers of books older than herself became damaged and unreadable. Her library was collapsing. Just like her heart._

"You took him, you took him!"

 

Belle continued to slash at Horder with her sabre until his footing became unsteady. She watched his heel twist off the end of the chair and he began to fall. But then Sheriff Swan grabbed him around the waist and hoisted him back onto the chair, making sure his position was secure. She then turned to Belle. For the first time in the months that Belle had known Emma Swan, she looked scared.

 

"Put it down, French. Put it down."

 

_She took a book and threw it at the mirror, shattering glass to the floor. Then another, then another until glass was joining torn pages on the ground. She reached for another book and found it to be the tea stained copy of the Princess and the Weaver. Belle looked at the cover, then at the sliver of her reflection she could see in the mirror._

_She collapsed to the ground, sobbing. She had finally become the monster she had never wanted to be._


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well here it is, the final chapter of 'Skin Deep'! I do have plans to rewrite other episodes in this style, so watch this space. 
> 
> Other than that - enjoy and Happy One Year of Rumbelle! : )

Belle French stood composed as ever outside the old Gold home, ignoring the bright lights of the ambulance only a few feet away. She still felt numb; still felt the sabre in her hand. She should have been allowed to finish what she started. It was the least that animal deserved. He was still the same vicious man he had been in the Enchanted Forrest. Even when the curse broke and he regained his memories, he still wouldn't face justice. No one cared but her.

 

The noise of the ambulance starting woke Belle to the scene around her, and she watched as Horder was pushed into the ambulance on a gurney. Despite their attempts to patch him up, he would still seek greater medical attention. _Good._

As the ambulance and Horder pulled away, the Saviour joined her by her car. "Well you didn't manage to cause too much blood loss. That's something at least."

 

"It's _nothing_."

 

"Nothing, French?" Belle looked up at the Sheriff's tone. To her credit, she seemed a little afraid of her after what she had witnessed tonight. She _had_ warned her not to underestimate her. But nobody expected such violence from the quiet ones. "You attacked the guy with a _sword;_ put a noose around his neck! I mean what did he even do? Steal a few books?"

 

Belle pulled her lips back in a grimace. "What can I say, Sherriff? I _am_ a book lover."

 

The Saviour ignored her attempts at downplaying the situation. "You don't do all this for a book. Maybe send out Mister Madison to threaten him, but not _this._ In there you were talking about how he hurt him, how he took him from you?" There was almost something akin to sympathy in the Sheriff's eyes but Belle could not stand it. She could not tolerate her pity. "Who was he? What did Horder do to him? You know if someone needs help then maybe I can help?"

 

Belle felt like laughing. When Horder had committed his crimes Emma hadn't even been conceived. What was left of her beloved spinner rotted in their world that was. This was her pain, her fight. She required no sympathy from Emma Swan, nor her help in investigating matters that were no more than forged files and empty graves. "I think you heard that wrong, Sheriff."

 

The sympathy dropped from her face. "You really don't want to play ball, huh?"

 

Another pained smile. "We're done, Sheriff. Now if you'll excuse me, it has been a _very_ long day."

 

Belle made an attempt to leave but Emma grabbed her hand and pushed it into a pair of handcuffs. The silver felt tight around her wrists. "You wanted to prove yourself a threat? Well congratulations, you've proven yourself. Now you get to face the consequences."

 

She had to suffer the humiliation of being forced into the back of the Sheriff's car. She then watched as the inhabitants of the street slowly left their houses to gossip about her arrest. It would do well for Emma's reputation if she continued to stand up to her, and the Mayor. They would flock to her, stand by her. Belle, however, wasn't so keen on returning to a cell.

 

All magic came with a price. It seemed vengeance did too.

 

X

 

_Rumpelstiltskin waited in the chamber that had once been his bedroom and now seemed would be his prison cell. He'd curled up at the head of the bed, wrapping his arms around his legs. He'd never encountered magic like that before, magic intended to hurt. He understood that she was angry and that she feared he was trying to make her weak. But he loved her; he wanted a life with her. Even if it was to just go back to a time where he was her groundskeeper and she was his mistress. Anything was better than this._

_She had come in only once since she had banished him to his room. She had deposited her book,_ The Princess and the Weaver, _on the end of his bed and then retreated back into her castle. She looked like she had been crying. He wanted to comfort her, to tell her that everything was alright and that he loved her deeply. But he couldn't find the words, or the courage to leave the room to find her._

_Just as dawn was breaking, the door to his chamber opened. Belle stepped in, her face back to its ghostly pallor, a blood red dress covering the bulk of her skin, her hair piled high atop her head. She looked like she had on the battlefield: before they had met, before they had fallen in love. Before_ everything.

 

_"What happens now?" he asked, looking to her for guidance, for warmth._

_But he did not find it in her eyes. "Leave."_

_"Leave?" he asked, unsure if he had heard her words correctly. She wanted him to go? What about their deal? What about what he felt for her, and what she felt for him? Where they supposed to just ignore that?_

_Belle looked to the window, not even having the decency to look at him while she broke his heart. He watched her swallow as she spoke again, her composure never truly slipping. "I don't want you anymore darling."_

_Belle stepped away from the door, her indication that he should leave. Rumpelstiltskin looked at her, tried to will her to look up and meet his eyes. But she did not. Whimpering to himself he slid off the bed and walked past her to the door. He should have left when he had had the chance, before he truly knew how she felt. He could have imagined then that she did not feel the same. Now all he could think about was her kiss, her touch. Her heart._

_Outside the room that had been his, Rumpelstiltskin thought about what awaited both of them. His mistress would retreat to her books, retreat behind her mirrors. She would not open her heart again. And he...he would have lost someone else he cared about and once again he would be tormented by the knowledge that he had not fought for them. He couldn't live like that any longer._

_Turning on his heel, Rumpelstiltskin walked back into the bed chamber. Belle was still standing there, gazing out at the ocean. She looked up when she heard his footfalls. She was dignified, he granted her that. But she could not control her eyes, which looked as if they were about to water._

_"You were making a life for yourself, Belle," Rumpelstiltskin said, standing in front of and standing up to the most powerful being in all the kingdoms. The woman that he loved. "We could have been happy,_ together. _If only you had believed that someone wanted you for_ you _, and not for your_ beauty _or your_ power. _For you."_

_Her composure didn't slip once. She was like a statue. "That's a lie. What we had was a lie."_

_Rumpelstiltskin shook his head. Everything he felt for her was true, and honest, and real. "I don't know what happened to you, Belle, or who hurt you. But you're so broken that you refuse any attempts to mend your heart, to even dream that it could be put back together."_

_She snorted, mocking his words. "Mend me?_ Fix _me? The situation is quite simple, Rumpelstiltskin. It's not that my heart is broken, it's just that you're not worthy of it. A pathetic spinner whose name is synonymous with coward in half the realms? Men have fought wars for my heart. Men much braver and much more handsome. What makes you think I would give it to_ you _?"_

_Rumpelstiltskin watched the way her hands trembled. He resisted the urge to reach out and hold her. But he knew she would not accept his touch. "You already have, Belle. Don't deny it." It was he who was trembling now, worried every second that she would turn him to stone. But he had never felt so brave. "I may be called a coward from here to the mountains but I came back._ For you. _But you've made your choice, sweetheart. And you will regret it. And all you'll have is your empty castle, and your bloody books."_

_She didn't respond, she just continued to look out the window onto the ocean. It was time to go. Swallowing, Rumpelstiltskin left her side. With every step he hoped she would come after him, hold him close. It wasn't until he got to the castle gates with his satchel underneath his arm that he realised she didn't want to come after him. She didn't want him._

X

 

"Pastrami?" Belle ignored the Sheriff's attempts at friendliness. She had had her hair pins and her belt removed. She wasn't in the mood to be friends.

 

"You know I still owe you that favour," Swan muttered through a mouthful of sandwich. "How about a delicious pastrami sandwich? Great way to make you feel at home in that big old prison cell."

 

Belle was tempted to tell the blonde sitting across from her that her _delightful_ parents had put her in a cell and used to feed her worms and that not having had anything to eat in a reasonably well heated cell was quite a vacation for her. But she decided better of it. "I don't need to be reminded that you owe me a favour, Sheriff Swan. But when that day comes it won't be for half a sandwich." She leant back against the wall of the cell and muttered to herself. "Would be at least for a full sandwich."

 

Just as Emma finished that half, Regina walked in with Henry by her side. The Mayor smiled at Belle as she entered. She had been wondering if she would turn up to gloat. Belle had honestly expected her earlier.  

 

"Sheriff Swan I'm giving you thirty minutes alone with Henry. Take him out for pie."

 

Emma left the comfort of her office and observed the looks exchanged between Regina and Belle. One day ago she would have had no issue leaving the two of them alone, but now...now Emma had seen what was hiding beneath the carefully put together appearance of the book owner. Belle could see she was debating what to do. "You want me to leave you alone? With her?"

 

Regina looked at Belle, smiling all the while. Emma wasn't her focus anymore. _She_ was. "Twenty nine and a half minutes."

 

The Sheriff looked to her, checking to make sure it was okay to leave her alone. Belle wanted to have this conversation, especially if little Miss Mayor had what she was after. "Bring me back a slice, won't you Sheriff? Pear, if they have it. Never been a big fan of apple."

 

Emma nodded and escaped with her son as quickly as they could. Then it was just Regina and her once more, like it had been in the Charmings cell all those years ago. One day - not long from now - it wouldn't be her behind bars but Regina. Belle was looking forward to that day.

 

"You really wanted to talk to me. _I'm touched,"_ Belle giggled, watching as Regina's composure slipped just a little. If she thought Belle would beg for her property back, she would be very mistaken. She had never begged.

 

"This seemed the only way we could."

 

Belle pointed to the sofa in front of her cot, smiling every second. "Then by all means _please_ sit down _._ "

 

Regina's face fell completely as she was forced to sit on the arm of the sofa. Belle knew what this was about now: she had been playing too openly of late and Regina had finally put two and two together and come up with the truth. Still, Belle was going to make her work for it. After the hell Regina had put her through stealing her property it was the least she should do. Compared to Horder, she was getting off lightly.  "You know when two people have something the other wants; a deal can alwaysbe made _._ So tell me Regina, do you have what I want?" 

 

Her smile was back. She looked so much like her mother. "Yes."

 

Belle tried to not let the relief show through in her body; she didn't want to let Regina have that satisfaction. But her book was safe, the only memento she had was safe. Now she just had to wrangle it out of Regina's bony fingers. "I did wonder why Horder was suddenly so interested in petty theft. I take it you had a little word."

 

The former queen shrugged. "I merely suggested that the _strong_ take from the _weak._ He seemed rather taken with the idea."

 

"I'm sure he did. Of course any normal man would take the television set. Not the books."

 

"Do you even own a television?" Regina asked. She decided not to wait for a response. "Ms French, we used to get along _so_ well. Has it really come down to this?"

 

Belle wanted her book; she wanted to check it over for any marks, holes, stains. She no longer wanted to play Regina's pathetic little games. Belle had three hundred years on her. Did she honestly think that she was fit to play against her? "It seems it has. Now you know what I want, what is it that you want, darling?"

 

"I just want you to answer one question, and answer it without your usual bullshit." Regina was smiling again. So much like her mother. It was a shame, really, considering that she used to be so pleasant. "What's your name?"

 

"It's Ms French," Belle answered, not missing a beat.

 

Her answer did not appease Regina, and the scowl that mirrored her mother's appeared. Did she really think it would be that simple? "Your _real_ name."

 

"You can check legal documents, the lease on the shop...all Ms French. Every moment I've been on this Earth, that's been my name."

 

Regina was leaning in closer now, desperately trying to make her point clear. "But what about moments _elsewhere?_ "

 

Belle was really making her work for it. "What exactly are you asking me?"

 

"I think you know. If you want your property, Ms French, and I _know_ you do, then answer the question."

 

Belle thought for a moment about how best to answer. She leant forward, her hands curling around the bars. Regina was expecting a simple word. But what would Belle LeFay be without her usual bullshit? "In one of the books your puppet took there was a story about a woman who wanted to marry a king. She called on a sorceress to get her wish and it was granted. But then the sorceress returned, as they always do, wanting her payment."

 

Regina's eyes had gone cold listening to Belle's little story. She may look younger than Regina, more _delicate._ But she was old and broken and she did not like being played. "How did it end? Oh yes. _The woman offered rubbles, riches; but none of these would serve as payment. The sorceress wanted something precious, the woman's first born daughter."_ Belle reached over and grabbed Regina's chin, yanking her forward. "Who would grow up and cast a curse and get outsmarted by the bookshop owner. Don't mess with The LeFay. You will regret it."

 

Belle let Regina fall back to the sofa, shaken by Belle's rough approach. The chains of this world were gone; the remnants of the Mayor and the bookshop owner disappeared. The LeFay and the Queen remained. Giants in a matchbox. "Now, Regina, give me back what's mine. Then I can return to counting the ceiling tiles, and you can return to your administrative throne."

 

With a smile that was more a grimace, Regina put her hand into her bag and retrieved the book. _The Princess and the Weaver._ Seeing it made Belle want to cry. If she or Horder had even pressed down a corner of a page she would hurt them both. "Considering how many books you have in your possession, it seems strange you hold so much sentiment for that one. Good story, I assume?"

 

Belle turned immediately to the tea stained pages where the weaver first met the princess. Biting the inside of her mouth, she stopped anymore emotion showing. They were finished for now. She looked back up at Regina, the book safely put behind her. "Well now that's all sorted out, we can get back to normal. You trying _so_ hard to find your happy ever after and me pulling everyone's strings. Don't fool yourself into thinking it's the other way around."

 

Instead of hissing a retort, Regina just smiled at her. "We shall see."

 

There was something behind that smile, something that Belle did not like. But knowing Regina, Belle would find out before long. For now though she did not care for Regina, or this tiny town. All she cared about was her book, and her spinner.

 

Reaching behind herself, alone at last, she pulled the book into her lap and opened the first page.

 

X

 

_Belle was in her library, putting back another shelf of books. Her library had been decimated after that night with Rumpelstiltskin and it had been hard to step into this space and repair the damage. But she had finally summoned up the courage to do so. She could fix the library with magic of course, but there was something therapeutic about putting each book back on its shelf, repairing each book in kind. Her father had created this library for her, the least she could do was put it back by hand._

_Her favourite book, the one she adored more than any other, lay next to a tea tray set for two._

_In the distance she could hear the doors opening, could hear someone come through her castle. She didn't get her hopes up, didn't dare run to him like she had the night he returned. Just stood and placed book after book on her shelf. Eventually the library doors opened and_ Regina _came swanning in, acting as if she still resided in this castle._

_"Flimsy locks, Belle dear. Anyone could walk in."_

_Belle didn't lift her head from the shelves she was rearranging, just kept placing book after book on the wood. She didn't want to play Regina's games. She had already had enough of that woman - of that_ family _\- for one lifetime. When she didn't answer, Regina decided to help herself to tea that was not set for her._

_"I need your assistance with something. What do you know about mermaids?" Regina asked, pouring the tea in one of Belle's finest china cups._

_"Go visit another library. Mine's closed today."_

_Regina curled up on the chaise beside the tea, acting the part of the wounded friend. But they had never been friends. "Oh Belle, are you upset with me? What could I possibly have done this time?"_

_Belle snorted and turned around to face her former apprentice. Regina had made herself comfortable in her home, in the seat she had drunk tea with Rumpelstiltskin, in the room where she had mended and broken her heart in minutes. She_ tainted _this room. "Your attempt to play with my toys didn't work, Regina. You can keep up these pathetic attempts all you like, but darling if your_ mother _was unable to topple me then you certainly will not."_

_The mention of Cora threw Regina off but she soon recovered herself. When you were a Queen, you could not lose face. "Oh Belle dear, is this about that man I met on the road?" She giggled, putting her tea cup down beside the book. "What was his name? Spindleshanks? Hobblefoot?"_

_Belle returned to filling her shelves on plant life, her fingers trembling as she put the books away."Rumpelstiltskin."_

_There was a pause. "Right. Well don't worry dear; I had_ nothing _to do with that tragedy."_

_Her hand on the book about pumpkins stilled and Belle turned to face Regina, hating the glint in her eye. She was enjoying this; she was enjoying playing with her. Belle knew that she shouldn't give in but she had to know. She_ had _to._ _"What tragedy?"_

 

 _Regina picked up the tea cup again and raised it to her lips, that glint still there. "I can't believe you don't know. Well, after your spinner left here, he went back to his little village. The Ogre War killed many and a_ lot _of the townsfolk blame you for not getting there quickly enough. So because of his..._ association _with you, nobody would talk to him. Nobody would buy his wool; nobody would give him anything to eat. He didn't even have a bed to sleep in."_

_Belle swallowed. She would find him; she would take him home, this home. She could make him comfortable and happy and maybe once the curse was completed they could be happy together. Like they should have been. "Does he...does he need a place to stay?" Belle asked, hating the emotion her voice betrayed. But she hated the idea of him hurting because of her even more. He was good and kind and he should be loved more than anyone in the world. Not reduced to starving in the cold._

_But instead of offering details, Regina just laughed. "The black soldiers found him. Their Captain, Horder, had been looking for him for quite some time. Your spinner was a deserter in the last Ogre War and they didn't take too kindly to that. They played with him, tortured him. Eventually they hung him from a tree."_

_Belle felt tears welling up in the corner of her eyes. She could not lose face like this. Not in front of Regina. "You're lying." He couldn't be dead. She would have felt it. She would have known in her heart that he was gone. Wouldn't she?"_

_"Am I, dear?"_

_The door to the library opened in a blink and Belle moved from her shelves to stand by the door. It was time for Regina to leave. "We're done."_

_"Fine. I have other people to see." Regina slammed her tea cup down on the table and walked over to where Belle was waiting by the doors. She smiled at her as she passed, taking in the sad state of her library. "Place is in a_ dreadful _state, Belle. You should find some new help."_

_With one last smile, she walked out of Belle's library and within seconds she could feel the magic of her disappearance. Suddenly it was just Belle alone again. She walked over to the small table and picked up the book. Belle opened it to the tea stained pages, reading once more the first meeting between the princess and the weaver. Her tears dripped heavily from her eyes, joining the marks on the page._

_He couldn't be gone. He couldn't be. He was going to come through that door and she was going to apologise and everything would be okay. They would be together. Together forever._

_Taking the book, Belle stormed out of her library, no longer wanting to remain there. The doors locked behind her, sealing it shut. Outside she wept, still clinging to her book. The only thing she had left of him._

X

 

Regina Mills walked through the waiting room of Storybrooke General, not making eye contact with anyone. She had a board meeting in half an hour so she was expected within the premises. But instead of going upstairs she walked over to a door tucked away in the corner, entering the code automatically. Out of the corner of her eye Regina noticed the battered and bloody form of Jeremy Horder but she didn't pay him any attention. He had served his purpose.

 

The basement steps were cold as usual, and the nurse was in her usual post. With a flourish, Regina presented her a red rose. Today was a good day and she was determined to celebrate it. "For you."

 

The nurse took it from her hand. "Pretty."

 

"Well I know how hard you work." Regina turned her attention to the corridor to her left. It was even colder down there. "Has anyone been to see him?"

 

The nurse shook her head. "No ma'am. No one ever goes to see him."

 

Grinning, Regina headed down that dark, dank corridor. She walked past the janitor, walked past cell after cell until she found the one she was after. There was a small viewing panel at the top of the door, and she pulled that open to look inside.

 

The occupant of the tiny cell was huddled in one corner, white hospital robes hanging off of him. His hair was greasy and lank, clinging to his face. When he heard the opening of the panel, his eyes immediately sought the sound. His face was pale but his eyes were still bright. The cell hadn't completely broken him.

 

"Oh please, _please!_ Where's my boy? Have you seen him? I don't know where he is. _Do you know where my boy is?"_

He reached for the panel, reached out for someone to help him. But Regina just closed it and walked away. _Soon._ Soon it would be Belle searching for her happy ending, and indeed she would get it. Her spinner would remember just long enough for him to die in her arms. Love would be Belle's undoing, just as it had been hers.

 

After all, power always came with a price.  

 


End file.
